Avatar: The Adventures of Rookie
by The Italian
Summary: ODST John Oltz a.k.a 'Rookie' was being dropped into his next mission. But when things take a turn for the worse, he finds himself on a new world. With no contact with the UNSC he is forced to help his new friends in a deadly revolution
1. Feet First

The briefing room of the UNSC station was full of multiple conversations. Ranging from how the Covenant had invaded Earth and how many kills they were betting on obtaining. The other half of the conversations were about their mission and how it was pretty much suicide.

The door to the briefing room slid open. All eyes moved towards the door, upon seeing the man in the door they all stood from their seats and saluted.

"At ease ODST's". Major Dunsbar walked into the room as the 60 ODST's sat back down in their seats. He walked behind a holo table. It was easy to see the veteran face of this Major. Two long scars ran diagonally across his face leaving one of his eyes shaded a light gray instead of his hazel color. He was dressed in his black ODST armor, those also having multiple battle scars obviously from plasma.

"Now as you all know the Covenant have finally set foot on Earth". At that moment the lights to the debriefing room turned off and a hologram of a Covenant cruiser appeared on the table. "This mission comes right from the top ladies and gentlemen. It goes as this. Our forces on the ground are getting rocked and there getting rocked hard. At this rate the Covenant will take New Mombasa in mere hours and it is our job to stop that. All of you, including myself will drop in our pods and land on the Covenant cruiser."

He walked around the table and started to map out points. "We will be in 6 squads of 10". Dunsbar pointed to the engines of the cruiser "3 squads will drop in the engine room and plant charges on everything that looks important". Dunsbar then pointed to the middle of the cruiser. "The remaining squads will land here in the hangar of the ship. According to our Intel one of the leaders of the Covenant, The Prophet of Regret is on that ship. He is a priority one target." Dunsbar put emphasis on the last three words.

The UNSC needed this so called 'Prophet' maybe there could be a way to stop the war with him in their possession. If anything could happen Dunsbar wasn't going to have a hotshot on this mission. "If everything goes right, we grab the prophet and head back to the hangar. We open the doors and in rides our evac Pelicans. once we're clear of the ship we'll blow the charges and watch some real fireworks."

The lights came back on and the Major looked around at the faces of the ODST's. He could see the seasoned Veterans with admiration on their faces and a few of them had smile. Next he looked towards the lower ranked and easily see a good amount of them were frightened and they had a right to be. Not many people that invaded a Covenant cruiser made it out alive.

Something in the corner of the Major's eye caught his attention. there sitting in the corner was one of the men with his armor already on and his helmet with his visor polarized was sitting a top his head. Taking a glimpse at the man's armor he could see it was barely scratched or dented. That's when he realized that this man was the new Rookie just instated into Bravo squad.

He smiled and looked back at the crowd. "You're dismissed. we have 30 minutes until drop."

**(*8*)**

The 'Rookie' watched as all of his brothers in arms stood from their seats and headed out the door. He decided from the beginning of the debriefing that he was going to leave last and spend some time in his room alone before heading to the pod bay. His weapons were already stocked and ready to go in his assigned pod.

Because they were being dropped in a Covenant cruiser he sought it best to definitely bring a shotgun and of course his silenced SMG. He touched his right boot and felt his back up silenced magnum and in his left boot was his hunting knife. You could never be too careful when it comes to these covie bastards. His pod was full of ammo to last him a few months if necessary.

He heard the sound of boots die down and knew all of the ODST's were gone. 'Except one' he thought to himself as he looked up to the source of the staring eyes. Standing there was his C.O. Daisy Hershel. Her armor was on and her helmet was in her hands as she bore down on the young soldier with her harsh gray eyes.

"Rookie are you coming?"

He chuckled at the name. He been here for 2 weeks and no one had bothered to ask him his name, which was John Oltz.

John stood up and walked over to his commanding officer. "Sorry Mam, I was just thinking about the mission."

Daisy started to laugh as she enjoyed the try hard attitude of the young gun. "Alright Rookie just get down to the pod bay now."

The Rookie nodded his head and walked by heading down the long hallway of the UNSC Voyeur. The hall was filled with multiple Marines and officers heading to their station for the big drop time. He looked down at his watch and saw he had only 3 minutes until the pods were to drop. _'Where did the time go?'_ he thought as the last door came into view.

He reached it allowing the mechanical door to slide open. He saw dozens of ODST's cleaning their guns or putting the finishing touches to their armor. The Rookies pod was in the back as he walked by the veterans, some of them staring right at him.

The one minute alarm went off in the HUD's of all of the ODST's signaling drop time was immanent.

A large thud in the ship made all of the men and women drop to the floors in surprise. More of them followed as the ship rocked and jerked back and forth. The comm line came on connecting to everyone on the UNSC Voyeur. _"Crew this is your Captain speaking"_ another explosion rocked the ship_ "We are being attacked by 3 Covenant battle cruisers. Everyone to the life boats and the ODST's heading on the cruiser mission need to leave now"._

That ended the comm line to the Captain as the newbie ODST's and even the veterans immediately got off their asses and ran to their pods, hoping that the shields and defense weapons could hold off the Covenant cruisers in time for everyone to escape to the surface.

"Alright Rookie I'll be in the pod right next to you. Be careful and make it down there in one piece". With that Daisy jumped into her pod and sealed the latch shut. The Rookie did the same thing and felt the sweat and explosions of the ship around him get to his nerves as he felt the need to throw up his lunch ration. He looked around his pod to check off everything that he needed. His shotgun and SMG were strapped to the right of the pod, while the ammo to his weapons were on the left side of the pod. Above him was the emergency release latch, along with his water canteen and one month ration pack. Everything seemed up to date as the comm line went on again.

It was Major Dunsbar. _"Most of the crew-not to mention your fellow jarheads-will be leaving the ship in lifeboats. They'll ride to the surface in air conditioned comfort, sipping wine and nibbling on appetizers. Not you, however. Oh no you're going to leave the Voyeur in a different method. Tell me boys and girls... how will you leave?"_

The Rookie easily noticed the speech and yelled out the response with everyone else. "We go feet first, sir!"

"10!"

_**"9!"**_

_**"8!"**_

_**"7!"**_

_**"6!"**_

_**"5!"**_

_**"4!"**_

_**"3!"**_

_**"2!"**_

_**"1!"**_

The pods shot out of the UNSC Voyeur as the Rookie watched out his small window. He saw all of the other pods falling towards their objective and in a mere few minutes the Covenant carrier came into view. The Rookie felt his grip on the shotgun and prepared for a large fire fight.

That's when something terrible started to happen._ "Major Dunsbar it appears the Covenant cruiser is attempting to jump into slip space"_ one of the smart A.I's stated as a black hole appeared in front of the cruiser.

_"This isn't good. everyone brace yourselves. it's going to be a rough ride"_

The Rookie watched as the Cruiser made the slip space jump and a gleaming white light came towards his pod. Even the visor couldn't protect his eyes as the Rookie covered his eyes. His pod started to shake uncontrollably and the Rookie started to scream as the white enveloped him and caused everything to beep uncontrollably in his pod. Then in one motion the pod jerked to the left causing the Rookies head smash into the pods ceiling, knocking him unconscious.

**(*8*) **


	2. ODST's Never Have a Good Encounter

The Rookie felt himself coming back as sparking wires and low klaxon emergency bells were one of the first things that he heard. John opened his eyes and first looked through his view port to see it was no longer the afternoon, now it was night time. The Rookie looked up towards his mission clock to see 15 minutes and 45 seconds.

He was at a loss for words. When the cruiser went into slip space his mission clock was 8 minutes and 25 seconds. Following protocol, John checked his comms next, "This is Private John Oltz of the 68th ODST Division. Does anyone read me"? Static was his answer. "Commander Hershel, do you copy?" he tried again.

After a minute of no reply the Rookie gave up. No matter what was happening, he had to continue on and find his teammates, with or without comms. He grabbed his shotgun and checked it to see the barrel was cut in half and now completely useless. "Fuck" he muttered as he tossed the gun on the floor of the pod. He checked his second weapon slot to see his silenced SMG. John picked it up and noticed this gun too was missing both the barrel and on closer inspection the firing pin was missing.

Now the trained ODST was without a major weapon, the only thing on him was his silenced pistol. He picked it out of his boot and checked the clip to see it was full and fully usable. He checked his ammo pouch and saw he had only 1 spare clip for his pistol. He felt the pouch needed more room for his shotgun and SMG, now he was regretting his choices.

John punched the release latch and the cover of the pod flew off with a loud bang. Rubbing his helmet, the Rookie walked out of the pod and was amazed at what he saw. In front of him was a large city, lights covering the night sky, with what looked to be large air balloons patrolling the skies. The ODST stepped forward expecting to feel cement under his feet, but no the ground seemed to collapse under his foot. He looked down to see sand under his feet as he just now noticed he was on a beach. He looked behind his pod to see a stone wall and looking up to see it was a cliff.

_'__Where the hell am I?'_

John heard rustling and pointed his pistol in the direction. He didn't see anything but a set of wooden stairs seeming to lead him up to the top of the cliff. Walking slowly and keeping his gun raised, the ODST walked up the stairs slowly listening for any sign of the Covenant or the UNSC.

John reached the top and surveyed the area. It looked to be extremely peaceful with loads of vegetation and a few weird looking animals sulking around. Looking off to the distance he saw a rather large mansion with lanterns lit around the outside. To be honest with himself, John had only seen lanterns being used in pictures dated back over hundreds of years ago.

Another rustling caught the Rookies attention as he aimed his pistol towards the sound. In his sights was a medium sized shack that usually farmers would only have. He walked towards it slowly and when he got to the entrance of the shack he felt his heart drop. What looked like a large water buffalo with an arrow on his head was sleeping.

It exhaled almost making John fall backwards. He checked around to see the coast was clear, he wanted to check out more of this incredibly large beast. Moving forward slowly with his weapon still ready and was about to touch the beasts nose when a snapping sound made the ODST stop. He looked down at his right foot to see a twig under it.

Cursing at himself mentally he looked back up to see two large yellow eyes staring at him. Growling came from the buffalo in front of him as John walked backwards slowly, his weapon trained on the animal. "Hey buddy" John said as he looked at his silenced pistol and wanted to slap himself as he turned the safety on the gun off. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm just going to leave now".

The animal seemed to calm down enough for John to leave. "Hey you!"

John turned quickly and aimed his weapon at the origin of the voice. But he quickly lowered the weapon as he saw three children standing there. In the back were two boys, the one on the left looked the youngest and had a bald head with a blue arrow, just like the large buffalo. The boy on the right looked the oldest and had brown scruffy hair with dark green clothes. Then standing up front was a girl, she had her hair up in a weird braid with her clothes colored blue and white. "What are you doing on our island?" the girl asked.

"Hey I'm sorry for intruding on your island. I crashed here a little while ago in my pod". Upon mentioning pod the children seemed to look at each other confused. "I was wondering if your parents have any contact with the UNSC I-"

"I knew it" the girl interrupted, causing confusion to John. "I knew you were part of the fire nation loyalists, here to assassinate my family. Well I won't let you".

The Rookie felt his finger slide a little back on the trigger, just in case something extremely bad was going to happen. John watched the girl get in a weird stance and start to wave her arms around when all of a sudden water came flying out of her pouch that she had on her belt. She was controlling the water with her hands!

John felt his body go limp as the girl fire her hands forward and the water came flying at him like a whip. He couldn't move at all and just felt the full impact of the water as he felt his finger accidentally slip. He heard the silencer go off as he landed on the ground hard.

His body ached from the water, it felt like he was hit by a rock. After a few seconds John stood from the grass and looked towards the kids. They were all standing awkwardly and staring at the girl in the middle, with worry in their eyes. On closer inspection the Rookie saw blood coming out of the girl's right foot. Realization hit him, he shot her.

The girl started to cry and suddenly collapsed to the floor in what John knew was shock and blood loss. The two boys quickly gathered around the girl on their knees. "Kaya?" the boy with the messy brown hair asked. Of course she didn't answer and both boys started to cry at what John guessed was their sister.

He walked towards the kids, intent on saving the girl, it was easy for him being the squad medic. The bald headed boy stood from the ground and got in the way of John. "Kid you need to move or I won't be able to save your sister in time".

"No stay away!" he yelled as the kid got in a stance just like his sister. This time the Rookie made sure to holster his pistol as he expected more water to head his way. No of course that didn't happen, this time an extremely large gust of air sent John flying backwards. He screamed in fear and he felt his back hit hard against the bark of the tree and his leg snapped as more screams were emitted.

John had never been in so much pain before, he looked down to his leg to see it looked perfectly fine thanks to the armor. But on closer inspection he saw his leg was bleeding onto the grass, he tried to touch his leg but immediately regretted that.

He looked towards where the kids were and saw they were gone, the blood from the girl sitting on the grass. The Rookie seemed to learn 2 things from his encounter with the kids. One, they obviously had no contact with the UNSC and two, never be a 'loyalist' around these people.

He tried to focus on a plan to get back to his squad and where the hell he ended up. He felt around his belt and when he found the thing he was looking for he ripped it off. It was his medical bag, not the full one just a smaller version seeing as though he didn't need the large pack for the moment.

He zipped open the medical bag and looked at the contents with relief. There were two rolls of medical gauze, three shots of adrenaline and a can of Bio foam. He didn't need the bio foam right now or the medical gauze, the thing he had his eyes on was the adrenaline shot. John placed the bag on the floor and picked up a needle. He bit the stopper off of the needle and spit it away from him, followed by stabbing the needle right above his kneecap, filling his system with the pain extinguishing drug.

He finished up with the needle and discarded it. "I need to get out of here before more of those- uh- whatever they were come back" he said to himself.

John stood slowly and grabbed his handgun out of the holster, limping away.

**(*8*)**

The entire gang sat around the table enjoying a nice vegetarian/Carnivore feast set before them. Aang and Katara sat next to each other at the head of the table. Aang dressed in his nicest Air bender robes that he found lying in the darkest halls of the western Air temple. Katara was also dressed in a robe like Aang's except her colors were not orange and white, her robes were a mixture of orange and light blue.

Across from them was Toph, her child Lin sitting next to her silently. Toph was always dressed in her police attire. Sitting to the left of the Befong's were the newlyweds Sokka and Suki. Sokka was dressed in water tribe warrior clothes, digging into the meat on his plate while his wife Suki watched in humor. She was wearing an auburn dress that matched with her hair. Finally to fill up the table across from Sokka and Katara was the Fire lord Zuko and his wife Mai, with another baby in the oven. They were both dressed in royal fire nation robes.

"So Toph any luck with catching those loyalists?" Mai asked in her usual bland tone.

Toph belched after drinking her mango juice, "So far the guy we caught last week hasn't said a word about their whereabouts". She was referring to the loyalist they caught robbing a few stores. To Toph's disappointment there was about 12 of them and in the end they only managed to nab one. "I got him to squeal enough to tell me that they are planning something big and I don't like the sound of that".

"After 12 years I still can't believe that there are people who still worship my father. He's a brute and will stay in jail for the rest of his days." Zuko said feeling his appetite deplete at the mention of his father.

"You guys know that the festival is in 2 weeks." Suki reminded all of her friends about the annual celebration about the end of the 100 year war. "Do you think the Loyalists will try anything during it?"

That got everyone at the table thinking. If the Loyalists were going to try something during the festival there would be massive amounts of injured civilians and maybe even dead ones. Katara looked at Aang, worry stricken on her face. Aang comfortably placed his hand on Katara's back and started to rub up and down, a smile plastered on his face. "Let's not think about this now. I'm sure if the Loyalists try anything during the festival our chief of police and her officers will handle it".

"You bet Twinkle toes".

"Mom! Dad!" screaming came from the courtyard as everyone jumped from the table, heading outside towards the screaming of Bumi. The gang got outside and saw Bumi and Tenzin running towards them with Kaya in their hands.

"Kaya!" Katara yelled as she ran forward, the rest following suite.

Katara snatched Kaya out of the boy's arms and immediately saw the blood pouring from her right foot. The water bender laid her unconscious daughter on the ground and started to try and heal the wound. All the while Bumi and Tenzin were screaming.

"Boys, Boys!" Aang got down on their eye level. "What happened?" Sokka, Zuko and Toph gather around the kids as Mai and Suki helped out with Katara.

"W-we heard something around Appa's house, s-so me Kaya and Tenzin went to check it out" Bumi said while sniveling in fear. "When we got there, there was this man" upon hearing that the 3 benders and Sokka perked up. "He was really scary and in really black armor with a helmet on. Kaya went to confront him and he said he was a fire nation Loyalist."

"That's not good" Sokka commented.

"Kaya attacked him with a water whip, but, but uh" Bumi started to cry.

"Alright Bumi" Aang said bringing his son into a hug. He could practically feel the fear washing all over him. Whatever this man did to Kaya it must have been traumatizing for Bumi to see. Aang brought his head out and looked at his son, "Bumi I'm going to go ask mommy how Kaya is and then me, Uncle Sokka, Aunt Toph and Uncle Zuko are going to find the man."

Bumi nodded, allowing the Avatar to walk over to his wife. "How is she?"

Katara looked up to Aang with tears filled in her eyes. Aang felt his heart go cold at the face one of the best healers in the world was giving her. "Is Kaya dead?" Aang asked with fear growing in the depths of his soul.

Katara shook her head no and Aang let out a quick thank you to the spirits. "She's not dead but I have no idea how to heal her. Whatever happened to her I can't heal, I've never seen this before". Aang looked at his daughter, no parent ever wanted to bury their child and that wasn't going to happen to him.

"Zuko, Sokka, Toph. We're going to look for this armored man."

"I can't wait to pummel this guy's face in" Toph said while cracking her knuckles in participation.

"No" the three warriors looked more closely at Aang upon hearing the harshness in his voice. "We're taking this guy alive, he might know how to heal Kaya". Aang looked out over the island, the last time Aang was this mad the Earth General tricked him into going into the Avatar state by using Katara as bait for him.

"Alright. Toph and Sokka I want you two to go check out Appa's stall and see if he is still around there, while me and Zuko check out the beach. There is only one way onto this island and that is by boat." The gang nodded and off they ran into the night.

**(*8*)**

John limped down the stairs, occasionally looking back for any more people. He felt the sand sink underneath his feet and the pain of his leg was staring to come back to him. Soon his drop pod came into view as an idea came to his head.

He looked through the hole of the pod and immediately found what he was looking for. A locator beacon which could lead his squad mates to find him and get back in the battle. John activated the beacon, the device showing off a blinking red light. He stowed it in his belt and did a quick look over of his pod for anything else, because he couldn't stay here and wait for help, more of those freakish water and air benders would come for him. He noticed the satchel of C4 in the corner of the pod and a small smile spread onto the Rookies face, he always was a sucker for explosions.

_"__All…. Call signs- thi—Da. any- copy."_

John heard the transmission even though there was static and couldn't understand it. At least he knew that someone else was here with him and hopefully they would find each other. He took the backpack in the pod and placed the satchel of C4 inside along with the detonator.

Putting the backpack on a large _'whoosh'_ sound could be heard coming from the stairs. John turned left just in time to see a large ball of fire coming right at him. On influence John jumped out of the way, the fire ball hitting the sand. He somersaulted and landed on his feet aiming his pistol towards the two new people running down the steps.

_'__Great'_ John thought, _'Air control or water control wasn't enough but someone could actually shoot fire'_. The two men stopped in front of him in stances, John knew there was going to be some serious trouble coming up.

"Who are you?" The man on the right asked. He was dressed in very red robes and what looked to be some sort of crown stood upon his black messy hair.

"I could be asking you the same question?" John replied.

The two males seem to look at each other in confusion. "You don't know who we are?" this time the man on the left asked. He looked exactly like the small boy who had the arrows on his head, which made John guess that he was the father of those three children. His orange and blue robe seemed to be flying in the wind.

"Why should I know you two? You don't look like part of the UNSC."

"What in spirits name is the UNSC?" the bald headed man asked.

"You don't k-"John didn't finish his sentence as something incredibly hard hit the back of his head knocking him to the ground. He moaned in pain as he fell to his stomach, already feeling the blood coming out of his head. With minimal energy he was able to flip slowly onto his back and look up to see the two men he was talking to, along with two more new people. One was a girl that was dressed in a uniform and the other was another guy dressed in plain black t-shirt.

They seemed to be talking but John could only hear mumbles and finally he passed out for the second time in the past day.

**(*8*)**


	3. Wake up

John continued to run, a mixture of sweat and rain ran down his helmet. The dirt under his feet were quickly turning into mud as the ODST trekked through the beginning of a swamp. The Rookie heard a moan and took a quick glance up to see another ODST hauled over his shoulders. Loud malicious screams then made John look behind him to see only the shadows of his enemies.

He sprinted needing to get away from his enemies and get his friend help. There was another moan, this one sounded a lot more pain filled. "Don't worry Sarge I'm getting you out of here". The 33 year old vet merely moaned again in response.

A single plasma hole was embedded into the Sergeant's stomach. John blamed it all on himself, if he had been faster on the trigger then maybe he could have stopped his superior from being shot.

"Delta Frost this is Pelican Echo 515 does anyone read this?"

John felt his heart leap in his chest and a small relieved smile appeared on his muddy face. "Echo 515, this is Private John Oltz requesting immediate evac". John risked another look behind him and could start to see the dark outlines of Elites chasing after him.

The Female voice of the pilot quickly replied, "Roger that Private what's the payload?"

John felt himself start to choke up at the mention of certain 'Payload'.

(*8*)

John's eyes shot open. He was sweating profusely and noticed that his helmet was still on, along with the HUD. Looking at the Mission clock again this time it said 46 Minutes and 50 Seconds. Being entirely pissed off he tried to sit up but was held in his tracks.

Looking at his arms and legs he realized that they were tied to a bed with some sort of rock. Wiggling around a little in his armor he heard the bed start to creek and the rock restraints started to move a lot. John realized that he could easily break out and leave this crazy place.

Against his better judgment though he decided to let this go and see where this series of event leaded him. Watching these people just use water, air and fire against him in battle was breathtaking. John needed to study these people more and find out their secrets so people back home could use them against the Covenant.

Back home…

How the hell was he going to get back home? John didn't even know where the hell he was or if this was all a dream and his brain was just fucking with him again.

"Well, well, well. Look who is awake from his nap".

John looked up and saw a woman standing with her back leaning up against the doorway. Metal armor covered her well-built body and a quick glance at her face made John gasp. Her eyes were dead gray signaling the Woman was blind, but if that was the truth how the hell did she know if he had awoken.

Almost like she sensed his concern the Woman started to walk towards to the side of the bed. She had a weird smile plastered on her face and it was easy for John to figure out it was fake.

With lightning fast speed that would rival a Spartans the woman's hand shot out and wrapped her fingers around John's neck. Even with his armor on she was still able to put massive amount of pressure on his throat. "You think you can just waltz onto Air Temple Island, injure the Avatar's daughter and leave?" she started to laugh.

"You pieces of scum underestimate me" John started to feel light headed from the intense chocking and yet again like the woman read his mind she pulled her hand back, letting the elite soldier inhale much needed oxygen. "Now I'm going to ask this just once. What are you planning and don't lie to me, your other friend is back at the police station singing like a canary".

"I'm sorry but I seriously have no idea what you're talking about." the lady didn't seem to buy anything so another idea popped up into his head to gain her trust. "You mentioned that little girl".

John noticed the tough woman's eyes raised in curiosity, "I know how to heal her, you just have to undo these restraints and take me to her".

The woman just stared at him for a full minute. John felt a little weirded out and just as he was about to look away from her a slight muffled transmission came through his comm link, "Any- h- this tr-, does a- resp-"

John let out another curse under his breath and watched as the woman left the room through a sliding door. A minute later the bald man with the arrow on his head walked back through the door. He didn't look angry at all unlike his last visitor, no John noticed despair and a tinge of sadness and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.

"Are you this Avatar the other lady was talking about?"

"My name is Aang and I can't believe you haven't heard of me before. I don't know if you're trying to trick me or you are telling me the truth".

"Aang I'm not lying to you at all. I meant everything I said to the lady before, I can heal your daughter and then afterwards I will tell you everything".

John watched as the bald headed man stood from the chair he was sitting in and with a wave of his hand destroyed the rock restraints. The elite ODST fixed the part of the armor that covered his wrist and swung his legs around the bed into a sitting position.

"I am choosing to trust you…"

"The name is John".

Aang nodded his head, "I am choosing to trust you John but if you choose to destroy that small part of trust then I will not hesitate to severely injure you and throw you in jail". John merely nodded and stood from the bed and noticed his bag full of explosives sitting on a bed side table. Putting the large pack on he walked towards the door and slid it open only for a fist to make contact with his face plate.

John merely staggered backwards due to his shields and the punch being a little weaker than usual. A Male groan of pain made John focus to the man in front of him dressed in a blue colored t-shirt and long black pants. The man also had a ponytail and was jumping up and down in pain like a small child.

"What in spirits name kind of armor is that" the man seemed to calm down and had a hated glare at the Rookie. "Aang are you sure we can trust him?"

"No I'm not sure" the Rookie felt much deserved hatred towards him. He did shoot this man's daughter and in some way all of these people were emotionally connected even if they weren't connected by the same parents. They were acting like a squad of Marines or ODST's would act around their squad members, brotherly and always looking out for one another. A big part of that was trust, without trust you had a dysfunctional squad and right now John felt like the Rookie again.

"What I am sure about though is he will heal Kaya". Without another word spoken the pony tailed man in front of him moved out of the way allowing John and Aang to move forward. The Rookie looked at his surroundings. The hallways they were traveling through were narrow and there was one of those sliding doors about every few feet, signaling that a lot of people stayed in this house.

The civilians that lived in the house were similar. They all had their heads shaved with a blue arrow on their forehead just like Aang. John came to the conclusion that whoever Aang was he is definitely a well-known and respected person.

Aang then led John into a short dead end hallway with one door in it. Once he was at the low tech sliding door he could hear small sobs coming from the other side of the door. 'Time to meet the mother' John thought to himself as his head started to hurt and he remembered to inhale.

Sliding the door open he saw three woman standing around a bed with the little girl he shot lying on the bed unconscious. Two of the woman were standing a good distance from the bed with their heads down. One of them had Auburn hair and was wearing a dress to match, a very cute young woman. The second Woman had black hair with the same red clothes that the man he saw on the beach wore, John also noticing that she had a baby in the oven.

Finally the third woman that couldn't control her sobs was practically on the little girl's bed. She had light brown hair and was wearing a blue like dress that was similar to the man that tried to punch him in the visor earlier.

John turned his attention to the little girl and saw that she was still bleeding through the entrance wound which meant the bullet was still lodged in her foot. While John started to assess his medical tactics Aang knocked on the door getting everyone's attention in the room.

All of the sadness seamed to leave the room as the Rookie watched all of the woman get into a fighting stance, hatred clearly in their eyes but the mom had the highest amount of hatred for him. The woman with the Auburn hair took out what looked like fans with daggers edged around them, the one standing next to her had her palms ignite with more fire.

The mother had water on her arms shaped like daggers and without any hesitation shot them forward at an intense speed. Using his training John rolled out of the way of the attack and came back onto his feet only for him to repeat.

Without noticing John accidentally rolled himself into a corner, he was trapped. The mom had a wicked grin on her face mixed with tears and some saliva. She threw her arms out again and John watched in awe as Aang jumped in front of the blast and caught the water. Moving his hands around slowly the water started to disperse until it completely vanished into the air.

"Aang what are you doing?"

Without a word being said Aang led his wife over to the opposite side of the room. They were having a very heated whispering fight and John decided to take this time to move closer to the young girl. John kneeled down and looked at Kaya's right foot, he could easily see the cloth they used to try and stop the bleeding.

John felt terrible. He knew the feeling of being shot both by plasma based weaponry and bullets used by the UNSC, an accident for the second one of course. Kaya was too young to experience a wound like that and wherever he was they had definitely never experienced a bullet wound before. If he had been smarter and kept his finger away from the trigger then that misfire would never happened and just maybe he would have gotten on better terms with these people.

"Fine!" John looked back at the arguing couple to see the mother with her hands in the air in an 'I can't believe what you said' manner. Slightly less angry she walked past Aang and stopped directly in front of John. "And you" water started to form around her body, "If you don't heal my little girl my Husband won't be there to save you again".

"I know exactly what to do miss". John shrugged the backpack off his shoulder and zipped open the top compartment. Reaching past the explosives on the top he felt the similar Kevlar touch of his medical kit. "Do you know what happened to your daughter?" John asked as a general question then to a specific person.

"No. All I know is her foot keeps bleeding and I have no idea why". That's what John thought, he zipped open the pouch and shook his head in confirmation. Everything he needed was in this kit. 8 cans of Biofoam, a few needles that contained Adrenaline, Medical gauze and all the tools he needed to stitch her foot closed and remove the bullet.

John took out a pair of tweezers, one for opening the wound to look inside and the other to extract it. John was about to apply pressure but stopped when he looked back up at Kaya's face. Something very important hit him and the ODST knew that it was something that the mother wasn't going to like.

"I've seem to have come across a slight problem".

"What do you mean a slight problem?" the mother's voice was penetrating through him. "You haven't even started to do anything ".

"I'm sorry to tell you this but a small projectile that comes out of my weapon has lodged itself into your daughters ankle" John looked at anyone in the room hoping someone would get what he was saying, but of course they all stared at him dumbfounded. Sighing John continued "The only way for the blood to stop bleeding is if I remove the projectile and close her wound back up".

"Then do it, I don't see the problem here" the woman with the Auburn hair commented.

"The problem is miss that I need special medicine to keep your daughter unconscious during that time and I don't have that on me. The pain will most likely wake her up and if that happens she is going to scream and jump around, I won't be able to get the projectile out if she moves around. I need someone to hold her down until I can finish."

The whole room was in silence as everyone stared at John in both confusion and shock. Then without warning "I'll do it" the mother stepped forward and no objected to it, John knew he wasn't going to say anything about it. He just hoped that she came through with her word. If Kaya moves around the slightest then hitting another vein could be easy.

John started the procedure and just as predicted about 30 seconds later Kaya's eyes opened fast. She started to scream in a high pitched voice as John moved around inside her foot trying to find the bullet. So far the mother was keeping true to her side and was successfully keeping her daughter still on the bed.

"Please sweetie stay still the man is getting the thing out of your foot and then you'll be fine. You could go back to playing with Bumi and Tenzin". John felt the bullet with his tweezer and successfully grabbed it. He started to pull back and then voila!

He placed the bloody bullet on the bed and felt himself relax immensely. "Kaya!" John looked up at the mother and saw that Kaya was yet again unconscious, which was completely normal. The ODST then again remembered where he was.

"Miss it's okay Kaya just went into shock, she'll be out for a little longer. The bleeding has already stopped, Kaya will be fine". John continued at his work but didn't notice the complete awe stare that the mother had on her face.

The rest was easy John filled the wound with Biofoam and then stitched it closed, 'Finished".

John felt a tap on his shoulder and saw the mom standing over him with tears in her eyes and a slight smile on her face. He couldn't believe what happened next she got down on his level and hugged him with superior strength he might add.

John merely patted her on the back and looked to see Aang smiling near the doorway, he gave him a thumbs up and the ODST returned it. "Thank you so much"

"I don't deserve any thanks miss. I'm the one that did that to your daughter, I admit it was a mistake but still I'm trained with this sort of stuff it never should have went down the way it did". John watched the mom pull back and sniffle.

"Please call me Katara. John I understand, the woman you talked to before her name is Toph and let's just say she knows when a person is lying or telling the truth. You have no connection with the Fire Nation loyalists and by the way you're talking it sounds like you didn't mean to do it on purpose".

John was shocked to say the least first Katara wants nothing more than to spear him with some magic water but now she was on his side in the matter. "It still warrants an explanation though". John merely nodded along with Aang and after one last check on Kaya the two happy parents escorted John to their next meeting point.

**(*8*)**

The morning sun started to rise as a loan figure stepped out of the brush, wiping some leaves and other excrement's off of their armor. The lone figure stood atop the hill now watching from a high vantage point.

The person surveyed the rather large city noticing Air blimps flying around the skyline. Looking around the landscape more a small island with what looked like a temple occupying it looked like a good place to find some help.

Doing the math quickly the figure found the hike to take about 2 and a half days including treading the water that surrounded it. Fixing the supplies quickly the hike began, the figure hoping that one of her friends would too be in that area, everything would be easier

**(*8*)**


	4. Covenant have never sounded better

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews. I'm happy to be back with the adventures of John 'Rookie' Oltz and sorry for the extremely long delay. Everything has been crazy it's like you think things will go the way they're supposed to and then life throws a nasty curve ball. Anyway enjoy.**

John looked at the crowd of people sitting at the dinner table, all of them gawking at him like he was some man that just recently escaped from an insane asylum. The silence wasn't helping either due to the fact that 5 minutes ago he told them the truth about how he ended up on the island and the only person that wasn't as shocked as the rest was the Toph lady. She was just leaning against the door frame of the entrance and was gazing down.

From just looking at the surroundings John knew that they were not even close to the UNSC, technologically speaking of course. Him talking about ships that could fly from planet to planet was definitely something to keep to himself. The silence finally was cut through when Katara's brother Sokka coughed to get everyone's attention.

"Toph you're absolutely positive that this guy is telling the truth?" he said hoping that his earth bending friend just got the readings a little mixed up.

"Yes, I'm sure. Not one thing he said in that ramble was a lie."

The room yet again filled with silence, John would have no more of that. He stood from his seat "Look everyone I know what I said might sound ridiculous to you but I need to get back to my home. It's under attack by my enemy and if I don't get back my home and everyone that lives there will be slaughtered". John emphasized the slaughter part but what he knew along with most of the UNSC was the odds were against them to halt the Covenant from destroying Earth. Still with the odds against them and their backs to the wall everyone would fight harder than ever, Earth will not be destroyed as easily as the Covenant believe.

John was breathing heavily and was focused on the crowd in front of him. So he was surprised when he felt a hand on his shoulder plate and turned to see Katara with a sincere smile on her face. "Your home is under attack John, we all know that feeling". Her smile fell and she looked at the floor.

John turned to see everyone else looking down in sadness. "What did Katara mean when she said you all know that feeling?"

"Our world was at war for 100 years" John looked at Aang's face incredulously and felt like an idiot for not putting their lives, whatever they were into consideration first. The war he was in currently did not even come close to half of the years these people endured in battle. Well the way everything was transpiring back at home the UNSC would not last another few months unless something extremely lucky happened.

He was going to ask what happened but Toph's harsh voice cut him off. "Now is probably not the best time to explain, if you want to sit here for a few hours and hear the story be my guest."

John was going to say that he would wait and listen to the stories of these people but the words were flat on his tongue. Pictures of carnage ran through his mind, first were the explosions of the Orbital Defense Platforms Athens and Malta. There were about 400 operators on those Platforms and in one foul swoop they were taken from this world by a Covenant bomb. Then there was the Covenant cruiser that went into slipspace inside the city of New Mombasa. John knew that carnage was probably going through that city, the cruiser sent a shockwave that probably killed hundreds of civvies and Military personnel. Even his squad of ODST's that he was with before the drop probably didn't survive the impact.

He was squad less again for the 2nd time in his life.

"Whoa are you good Tin man?"

John snapped out of his trance and looked around the table to see everyone staring at him, what the hell? "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes I'm talking to you tin man. I felt your heart spike to dangerously high levels". John looked at the top left corner of his HUD and saw that Toph was telling the truth his heart rate spiked to near 350 beats per minute, but the hell did she know that?

Even though he found it weird that she knew if he was lying or not and the fact that she knows his heart rate, those weren't the top things in his mind. "Why did you call me tin man?"

"Because of your hard cased armor".

"Before we go on about nicknames we should focus on getting you back to your home world". John looked away from Toph and realized Katara was the one talking to him, "On a second note how are you going to get back home?"

"I have a machine back on the beach that continuously sends out a call for help to my allies. If one of you would like to help me find that beach again I would be most grateful."

John thought he saw Aang about to volunteer but a young woman that was dressed in the same colored robes as Aang and actually still had her blonde hair came into the dining room. "I'm sorry to interrupt you Avatar Aang but Kya has awoken and requests you and Master Katara immediately".

Katara and Aang said thank you simultaneously and smiled at one each other. "I have just the person in mind for you John" he turned to Toph and merely nodded at her and unbeknownst to Josh she caught his drift.

"Sergeant Aponte" Toph shouted and a few seconds later a man dressed in the same armor as Toph walked into the room and bowed. He had a nice black mustache with his ragged black hair hanging out of the hat that sat atop his head. A few scars were noticeable on his face and the man's left eye was blind.

"You are to escort this man to the Northeast beach and make sure he finds what he is looking for. Is that understood?"

"Yes chief".

The man without even acknowledging John walked out of the dining room. The Rookie had to speed walk to catch up with the Sergeant and was able to track him down just as he walked out into what seemed to be a courtyard. He fixed the bag on his shoulders and took in the beautiful surroundings. It was very peaceful with different types of animals going from here to fro. Even though it was dark the courtyard was still bustling.

The people were also very nice. Each of them asking how he felt and thanking him sincerely for saving Kaya. John took a note of that, news traveled fast on this mansion something that might come in handy later.

A few minutes later the courtyard ended and became a forest. Seeing how there was nothing to catch his eye John started to think about his predicament. If he was indeed on another planet then the beacon wouldn't help. The UNSC Brass wouldn't allow any ship to leave the defense of Earth and travel to a different planet to answer a distress beacon. He was only just one man, what difference could one man make.

The idea of this being a dream was thrown out the window already and know he had to face the facts, there was no getting home. He would try though if luck would help him John would be more than appreciative.

"We have arrived". John came out of his thoughts and noticed the stairs from before leading down. He simply nodded at the Sergeant and walked slowly downwards.

The pod was already in sight when the pair stepped onto the sand. John kicked the hatch of the pod and looked inside quickly finding the off world beacon, he had already activated the Squad beacon earlier but to his disappointment it was destroyed when he fought Aang and Zuko. The Rookie typed in the frequency into the large black circular device. A small like sliver with a microphone attached slid out of the beacon once the code was typed in and John prepared himself to make the recording.

He cleared his throat and pressed the record button, "This is Private John Oltz of the 68th ODST division. I am stranded on an unknown habited planet with other possible survivors that are also unknown. If anyone is hearing this we need immediate evac. Prioritization code Delta 6-4-3-5".

John nodded in approval and placed the beacon inside his bag. He moved the pod slightly and heard a loud clunk. The back of the pod seemed to move and when he stared at it for a second John knew that his luck couldn't have changed for the better. A latch was on the back wall, ripping it off a Shotgun laid in a hidden compartment and on closer inspection it was in perfect condition.

With a big smile on his face that resembled a little kid getting a homemade chocolate chip cookie John started to delve into the massive amounts of Shotgun ammo he brought for the Cruiser mission. Pumping his Shotgun just to hear the noise made him feel great for some odd reason.

Feeling satisfied John exited the pod and was about to say something when his motion sensor added another white blip which told him an unidentified anomaly. The Sergeant standing in front of him accounted for one but the other dot was above them.

John looked up at the cliff and noticed a few trees that would be a good spot for another person to hide. John felt his eyes roam the trees and stopped when a very small branch movement caught his eye and on closer inspection he noticed an outline of a young male.

"Sergeant up there!" John called out causing the assailant to expose himself. He jumped out of the tree and headed for them. Pulling back his arm he shot it forward and sent an incredibly large fire ball at Josh and the Sergeant.

The Sergeant shot his hands up into the air and created a large rock wall. The blast hit the defensive wall and was barely able to stop the fire from cracking the rock. The Assailant noticed that as well and he kicked his foot out roundhouse kicking the stone wall causing it to explode. Josh felt the heat melting through his shields and was just barely able to get out of the way of the explosion.

Josh didn't waste any time getting to his feet. He noticed the Sergeant laying on the ground with smoke coming off of his body. Standing over his body was the Fire bender, "Don't move!" John pumped his Shotgun and aimed it at the assailants back.

The man slowly turned around only for John to see his face completely covered by some black cloth. His whole body in fact was covered in some black suit with the exception of a red dragon logo on the chest. John could practically feel the heat that was radiating off of this fire bender.

"What are you?" the mysterious man asked. "Are you friend or foe?"

John felt the grip on his Shotgun tighten, there was no doubt that this man is a part of the Fire Nation loyalists. Aang had the brilliant idea to tell him about the enemy he was accidentally mistaken for and how dangerous each member was. "That depends" John answered and looked for any movement from the Sergeant, none came. "Are you friends with the Avatar?"

The mysterious man made a 'tsk tsk' sound before starting to walk forward slowly. "I said to not move you bastard" the fire bender just kept slowly walking toward John, he didn't want to shoot him but John was pretty sure he didn't want his skin to melt from this guy's fire ball.

"I swear if you take another step I'll drop you where you stand". The man chuckled now when all of a sudden he sprinted forward. John opened fire and watched as the man jumped over his blast, also jumping over him as well. Landing perfectly behind the ODST John turned and fired off another round, the fire bender also dodged the second shot and was able to get close enough to disarm John with a simple roundhouse kick to the hands.

John slid backwards narrowly avoiding an uppercut. The two men stared at each other in hatred, John reached down for his boot and took out his Hunting knife. "You need a weapon to defeat me machine?" the fire bender chuckled, "Pathetic".

This time John initiated the charge. He swiped right and left trying to hit the man in the chest but every time the fire bender dodged. This only made John angry and after a few more swipes one made contact with the man's chest. It wasn't deep at all to seriously injure him but something changed in the fire benders eyes.

With a shout of rage the fire bender returned with a volley of punches and kicks. Most of them were blocked but the few that did get by his defenses hurt immensely. A few of his ribs were definitely broken.

John blocked another round house kick making the attacker furious. He back flipped a few feet away, "You may be able to block all of my punches and kicks machine but let's see how that armor does against fire".

He threw out two fists and sent a large fire ball at the metal machine. John smirked, now was the best chance he was ever going to get to test out his new armor. He pressed down on the button on his left hand and with a large amount of force punched the ground.

The fire at that exact moment consumed John and the mysterious fire bender smirked. No one could have survived that, the machine was an idiot for not trying to dodge. He pulled his hands back ending the continuous streak of fire and waited in anticipation to see the thing laying on the floor in a crisp. With a gasp of shock he realized that he had survived.

A blue like shield was around the machine while he was sort of kneeling into the ground, his fist planted firmly into the ground.

With a loud _**'pop'**_John stood back up with a smirk. If he ever saw his superiors again he had to remember to thank them for equipping armor lock on his suit. "I'm done playing games" John stated and with extreme speed pulled his pistol out of his other boot and popped off a single round. The fire bender was too stunned to see the projectile flying at him. It impacted his chest right through the dragon logo's head and went straight through his heart. The body flew back onto the floor. Dead.

John took in some oxygen and enjoyed the feeling of his air conditioner in his helmet. That was easily one of the toughest fights he had ever had. That was saying something to seeing as though John had a few Zealot kills under his belt. Those bastards were definitely tough.

John grabbed his Shotgun and was relieved to see that it was still in perfect condition. Holstering it he rushed over to the Sergeant's body. He still did not move, rolling him onto his back John was able to see a few burn marks. He was alive, just needed some serious medical attention.

5 more white blips appeared on the motion sensor behind him. John turned in time to see 5 more of those fire nation loyalists land right next to their dead friend. Without a single word 4 of them picked up the body and the fifth stood in a ready stance with a look in her eyes, almost like she was daring John to make a move.

"Let's go" a gruff male voice called out and off they ran with the body. Not before the female fire bender threw her hand out. Except fire didn't shoot out at him, in fact nothing happened. It was kind of like she flipped him off and then continued on with her allies.

John made sure they were really gone and then grabbed the beacon from his pod. Then he picked up the Sergeant and threw him over his shoulder before making his way back to the mansion. He made it to the tree line and almost immediately the servants walking around noticed him carrying the Sergeant. They were doing small examinations while keeping up with his walking pace.

John was about to enter the mansion but was stopped when Katara, Aang and Toph ran out. "What in spirits name happened?" Toph yelled out as Katara checked out one of Toph's metal bending Officers.

"We got ambushed." Katara finished checking the Sergeant out and ushered John to bring him inside and into something called a 'healing room'. He did as he was told and followed her into the house and found said room. It was rather peaceful a single bed with a few windows that were left open, letting the outside air in.

John carefully placed the man's burnt body on the bed. Katara ordered everyone out so she could concentrate. "Who ambushed you?" Aang asked as the impatient Toph tapped her foot on the floor.

"I think it was a Fire Nation Loyalist. He had a logo of a dragon on his chest and when he asked if I was a friend or foe. I then asked if he too was a friend of the Avatar's, to which his reply was to attack me."

"This is ridiculous" Aang commented as he started to pace the hallway in thought.

"I need to question him Tin man. Where is he?"

"That won't be possible. There was more than one and they dragged his body away before disappearing into the forest". Aang and Toph seemed to take in his words and after a little awkward silence Aang spoke up.

"You killed the fire bender didn't you?"

"Yes" John answered without a single thought. What else was he supposed to do? His life and the Sergeant's life was in danger. Just like he was taught back in basic, if there was a threat it had to be neutralized.

Aang nodded and then excused himself from the conversation. John watched the Avatar walk slowly away before asking the question to Toph. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Aang sees the world one way and others see it a different way." Toph commented as she felt Aang's heartbeat slow down slightly. "He is not fond of killing any living thing, it's the way his masters taught him when he was young. Every life is sacred. Even the bad guys."

John yet again felt like an idiot. He really needs to know these peoples back stories, maybe then he could understand what these people have been through. Maybe he could share a little back story of his but only if they asked to hear some of it, he wasn't that fond of sharing his past. Most of it wasn't happy memories.

A sudden surge of energy made John cringe slightly, not in pain and not in pleasure. It was a feeling he had never felt before. "What was that Tin Man? Your heart rate spiked again".

"First of all stop it with the Tin Man and secondly I don't know. I've never felt such a rush like that before". The sliding door to the healing room opened and all Toph could think about was the accelerated heartbeat. A few good Officers had that same feeling before hours later they were hospitalized.

"All right Toph" Katara said expecting the answer. When none came the Water bender looked at her friend in confusion. "Toph!" she said with a little more spunk.

The Chief of police jumped slightly, "Sorry I was just thinking, anyway thank you for healing Sergeant Aponte". A different Metal bender officer came up from behind Toph and tapped her on the shoulder. He whispered something into her ears and when he was finished walked slightly backwards and stood at attention.

"I must return to the city and deal with a few things, have a good night Katara". Toph exited with the Officer leaving John and Katara.

"It's late" Katara commented, a topic that came out of nowhere. "While you were gone I took the liberty to make you a guest room"

"Thank you Katara, you didn't have to do that for me. Back at my home they trained me to never need sleep. So we could fight the enemy 24/7". John said proudly and in return only got a rather disgusted glare.

"That's terrible" she said while walking past him. "I'm glad our war has ended and lucky for you, you're not back home. In my house we live in peace and can sleep until midafternoon if anyone wants to". John smiled and snorted he could get use to the no fighting thing, he could just never imagine his life as a civilian again. His life was now all military.

"Follow me to your room". The Water Bender and the ODST walked up the flight of stairs and down the hallway for quite a bit before coming to a dead end. She slid the door open and walked into the room. All that really was in the small room was a bed which looked to be too small, a night table and an open window which actually gave him a great view of the city. Which gave him the idea to visit that city one of these days.

"It's not much but" she fluffed one of the pillows on the bed, "it's something, better than nothing".

John checked his surroundings and with careful precision unlatched his helmet, a hiss of air following in suit before pulling it off. He felt the cold night air against his face and it felt extremely good and needed. He looked back at Katara only to see her staring at him.

With some self-consciousness kicking in John looked at his reflection through his visor. His short brown hair looked fine, his hazel eyes seemed a little lighter than usual which was fine. Then he realized what the problem was. The scar that started from the right corner of his forehead and went diagonally down his face until it stopped at the left corner of his chin.

"Don't worry about the scar it's just a little blemish to me".

"Sorry, it's just I have never seen such a scar as big as your before".

John nodded understanding her amazement. How he got that scar was a story for another time. He gently lowered himself onto the bed and felt a surge of pain, he tried to keep it under wraps but Katara caught his change in facial expression.

"What's wrong" she asked concerned.

John didn't want to get into a real frenzy about it so with compliance he took off his chest piece to reveal his black endo suit. He lifted that up and she was able to see all the bruising around his abdomen. She placed her hand there and he flinched away from him.

"Broken" she said simply and then took water from the pouch on her hip. She applied it to the area and was astonished when he asked her something that caught her off guard.

"I need you to tell me about what happened in the past, with the war and you guys. I need to be able to understand why these Fire Nation Loyalists are attacking you. Tell me everything".

Katara nodded solemnly and continued to heal his ribs. "It's a good thing you were trained to never sleep, because this story is going to take hours".

Then just like that she started at the beginning, with the boy in the ice.


End file.
